Northwest Rocker

Final Pictures

2011-08-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to get professional pictures taken yet, but here are some better pictures from my living room. The 6 coats of finish came out looking very good. After waiting several days, I also applied some paste wax. I'm very happy with the result.

More Lessons Learned

2011-08-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve applied the four coats of satin finish and one coat of the wax finish. As I was working on the finish, I thought of some more lessons learned that I should share.

Although the sanding was tedious, it was worth every minute. You might feel like giving up at this point, or cutting corners on the sanding, but don’t. The first thing people say when they see my chair is, “Can I touch it?” The finish won’t cover up all of your sins, so take your time and sand the chair well.

I realized (too late) that I messed up on my leg-to-rocker transitions. I should have started with a block of wood and cut the laminations so that when it is glued up, it would look like a single block of wood again. Instead, I used a long strip that I had cut for the rockers and cut that into smaller pieces. This resulted in a stack of laminations with the grain staggered. It creates an interesting effect, but it doesn’t look like one piece of wood. I didn’t even realize what I had done until I started sanding. I also didn’t choose wood that blended well into the leg grain color.

This leads me to my final suggestion: plan everything before you start. Take some time before each shop session to think through your next steps. Review the instructions, watch the DVD, and walk through the steps in your head before you start cutting wood. Just five minutes spent in planning can save you hours of re-work. The forum on Charles Brock’s website is also full of good information that isn’t found in the book or DVD.

I received my completion certificate from Charles Brock yesterday. I’m now an official “Rock’n Chairman”! It feels good to be a member of this club.

My chair is full of flaws, but I’m proud of the result just the same. As my first attempt at fine furniture, I think I did ok. This blog has helped me to document my mistakes, so (hopefully) I won’t repeat them on my next chair. I hope it will also help you to avoid mistakes on your projects too.

Once again, I would like to thank Charles Brock for his fine instructional materials without which this project never would have happened. He was always very responsive to my e-mails and encouraging. I’m also grateful for the link he provided from his website to my blog.

I also have to thank my wife for her patience in letting me spend the money and hours on this project. My plan was to sell this first chair, but she has talked me into keeping it because she likes it so much. That’s a big testament to her support.

The Finish Line

2011-08-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

The last week was spent doing more sanding. I went over every inch of the chair and continued to find more nicks and small scratches. It was as if there were gremlins in my shop adding scratches when I wasn’t looking. By the time I got down to 320 grit, the wood was silky smooth. This morning I finally completed the sanding to a point I was happy with. Here's a picture of it fully sanded.

I wanted to mark my chair before I applied the finish, so I branded the bottom of the seat with my name. (The brand was a Christmas present.) I also wanted to date the chair, so I embedded a new penny. I used a 0.75” forstner bit to sink a shallow hole, and then I epoxied the penny into the hole. I think this makes for a nice decoration and helps to date the chair for future generations.

I made a stop by Rockler and purchased the Sam Maloof signature finish. It’s composed of 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 linseed oil, and 1/3 poly varnish. The instructions recommend 4 coats. It is wiped on liberally, and then wiped off. I have to wait 24 hours between coats. For the top coat, I will use the Sam Maloof finish that is tung oil, linseed oil, and carnuba wax. I will apply one or two coats of this and then buff it to a glossy shine.

I applied the first finish coat today. The grain darkened nicely and really popped! It looks great. I can’t wait to get the remaining coats on. Here is what it looks like.

This has been an amazing learning process. My rocking chair project has taken me almost 10 months to complete (I’m sure most people can do it in far less). Many people have asked me how many total hours I have spent. I never kept track, but I estimate somewhere between 300 and 400. Now that I have all of the patterns and jigs completed, and I know what I’m doing, I’m sure the next one will take much less time.

Once I have all of the finish applied, I plan to get some professional pictures taken of the chair. I will post them as soon as I can. Rock on…

Rockers (Part 5)

2011-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today I finished sculpting the back legs into the rockers.

Here are some pictures before the sculpting. You can clearly see that the legs, which are oriented straight front-to-back, are off set from the rockers, which are oriented at 8 degrees. This makes the sculpting a bit of a challenge.

I started by using my angle grinder with a sanding disk to quickly blend the rockers and legs. Then I used my microplane to round the corners on the outside of the legs and on the transitions. The insides of the legs were left with hard line corners. I finally went over everything with the random orbital sander and 60 grit paper to quickly remove the scratch marks. Here are pictures of the final product. The last picture clearly shows the apparent “twist” in the leg joint.

I will have to use some filler on the joints as there are still some small gaps. However, I’m happy that I’m in the final stage of sanding. I will go over the entire chair up to 320 grit, and then go over it again using a superfine 3M sanding pad prior to finishing. I hope that by my next post I will be applying the finish!

Rockers (Part 4)

2011-07-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished shaping the rockers (with the exception of the back legs). I started by sketching out the parts that would be sculpted into the legs and the ends of the rockers. I did this just by eye, and then cut the patterns using the band saw.

Once cut, I did some sanding and then routed a 1/4” radius on all edges (except where the legs meet the rocker). I found that it took longer to do the tool setup then to actually cut the wood!

At this point, the rockers were finally starting to look like real rockers. I used files and a microplane to shape the ends of the rockers. The maple laminate looks great popping through the walnut. I used the sander to adjust the curves and make sure the figures matched on each rocker. The cyma curves make the rockers look like a pair of snakes.

I took a 1/2" dowel and sanded it to a smaller diameter. The dowel was used to hold the rocker in place so that I could shape the rocker to the front leg. The smaller diameter prevents it from sticking in the hole. I also used a clamp to hold the back leg in place. Again using files, microplane, and sandpaper, I sculpted the front leg transition. There is a hard line that starts on the inside of the leg and then spirals around the front towards the bottom-outside edge. The hard line then softens into the curve of the rocker. This is all a matter of taste and you can make the design however you want. Again, my goal was to make the chair as close to the Maloof design as possible.

I wanted the back legs to be joined before I started the sculpting. That is to ensure that the transitions are in the correct orientation. To install the rockers, I turned the chair upside down on my bench. I used an old towel to pad the bench and avoid scratching the arms. My workmate bench turns out to be the perfect height because the ears of the chair do not touch the floor. I clamped the rockers to the legs, again using the small dowels on the front legs. Then I used an 8 degree jig to properly align the rockers and to make sure they are centered. The jig is simple to make and explained in the Brock instructions. I ran into a problem here because the back legs were not parallel with the rocker transitions. This created gaps in the joint. It’s not an easy thing to correct because the leg is at a compound angle with respect to the transitions, and the transitions have a slight curve. It took quite some time to file and sand the leg to the point where it mated correctly

Once the rockers were correctly oriented, I marked a line along the side of the rocker and back leg to show where the connecting dowel should go. I used my Dowel-It tool to guide the 1/2" drill through the rocker and into the back leg. Note that Maloof did not drill through the rocker. He somehow managed to install the rockers onto dowels even though they are at different angles. The Brock method is easier. The next step was to mix up some epoxy, insert the dowels, and then clamp the rockers into place. The dowels were made from 1/2" oak stock. I fluted and chamfered the front leg dowels. The back leg dowels were not fluted on the ends that stick out of the rockers. I did this because I wanted the dowel to be perfectly flush with the hole where it exits the rocker. The back leg dowels were cut extra-long so they stick out during gluing. After the epoxy dried, I sawed them off flush and sanded.

Now the chair is essentially complete! I brought the chair inside and took it for a test drive. It rocks just fine! No creaks or pops. It feels very nice to the touch. Today I plan to complete the sculpting of the back leg transitions. Next week I will continue to sand the whole chair, and next weekend I hope to start applying the finish.

Lesson Learned: During all my shaping and sanding yesterday, I neglected to wear a mask. This was a big mistake as the walnut dust caused severe irritation of my sinuses. Always wear a mask!

Rockers (Part 3)

2011-07-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finished shaping and sanding the headrest. That was the last step in completing the main portion of the chair. Then I moved on to the rockers.

The Brock instructions and video get a bit sketchy at this point. The instructions simply point to the video for a construction step that I feel is critical to the project: the balancing of the chair. But the video lacks detail. In fact, much of the video goes on with no narration at all, so it’s assumed that you can follow what he is doing. I had to watch the video several times to understand the transition locations, and even then some of what I did was a guess. There is a new version of the video out now, so perhaps more detail has been added.

Brock sets the chair and rockers on a table saw. I assume this is because the saw provides a smooth and level surface, but the video doesn’t give a reason. I used my portable bench and adjusted the table to ensure it was level. The instructions say to balance the rockers at 2.5” forward of the rear legs. I found that I could not get my chair’s balance point to go that far forward. The headrest may be too heavy, but I was not willing to take more material off at this point. Instead, when I made up the rocker-to-leg transition laminations (see below) I used 5 for the back legs and only 3 on the front legs. This helped to tilt the chair forward, but I still ended up with a balance point just 1.5” in front of the rear legs.

The transition pieces were created using the same process as the rocker laminations. I jointed a 1.5” board, cut a thin strip on the band saw, and then planed the strip to size. The strips were then cut in 6” lengths. The front rocker transition can be mounted starting right at the front of the rocker. The rear rocker transition begins at the balance point and goes back from there (see photos). Once these locations were determined, I glued them up and clamped them using the rocker lamination jig. Don’t for get to wax the jig and use wax paper under the laminations. I let them sit over night to dry. Finally, I jointed the sides to ensure the transitions were aligned flat with the rocker.

Earlier in the instructions, it says to cut the bottom of the back legs off at 6 degrees. But 6 degrees in which direction? Now that the legs are sitting on the transitions, it is clear to see which way the legs need to be cut. Here’s a picture of a leg before the cut. I drew a line parallel to the transition to mark where the leg should be cut and then used a dozuki saw for the cut. The front legs also required some work to make them flush with the transtion blocks.

The last step I did was to drill the dowel holes for the front legs. I did this using a Dowel-It jig. Because I decreased the number of laminations on the front, I had to also decrease the drill depth. I normally use a brad point drill bit, but this might have poked through the bottom of the rocker, so I used a regular 0.5” drill bit instead. I created dowels using oak stock. I fluted the dowels to allow the glue to move around it.

My next steps will be to saw the transitions so they flow into the legs, shape the rockers, and then permanently install them. The end is getting close!

Completing the main chair

2011-07-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

I finally made some progress today! I sanded the leg and arm joints (again). Then I moved on to sanding the remaining spindles. I did the gross shaping using 60 grit, then moved on to 120, 220, and 320. Since I don’t have a spindle sander, I used a Dremel sanding drum on my cordless drill to better define the spindle shoulders. I also made sure that the shoulders were aligned on each side. On this chair I cut the spindles roughly thinking that I would shape and sand them later. Now I realize that I could have saved time by cutting the spindles with more care earlier. Next time, I will switch to a small bandsaw blade and cut the spindle shoulders exactly to the pattern.

After a lot of sanding, I dove in and glued the spindles in place. This is like a point of no return and a bit scary. Plan this glue-up carefully because there are seven spindles (two ends each) and the headrest to glue in place. You need to work fairly quickly. Brock suggests using a hide glue for the spindles. This is in case a spindle breaks. The hide glue can be heated (using a heat gun) to remove the spindle. I chose to go all in and use the standard Titebond II. If a spindle breaks now…

Here’s a picture of the chair just sitting on the rockers.

After getting the headrest glued and screwed, I started work on the screw plugs. Brock uses the dowel makers to make his plugs from ebony. Ebony is crazy expensive, so I opted to use some black wood I found at Woodcraft. It’s quite hard and dark, so that’s good enough for me. The piece of wood I had was perfectly sized to be cut into quarters and then turned to create the plugs. I only needed one stick (about 12” long) to make all of the plugs. I surprised myself by turning the piece to the perfect diameter on the first try! The plugs were glued into place and then sawed off using a flexible pull saw. Here’s a close picture of the headrest plug, and some shots from the side.

I’m getting very excited as it really looks like a chair now. The next step will be to finish shaping the headrest into the back legs with more sanding. The last construction stage will be to install and shape the rockers. Then I can start the finishing. The end is in sight! I’m hoping I will only need a few more weekends. Let me know if I can answer and questions for you.

Dirty Little Secret

2011-07-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Happy 4^th of July!

(I forgot to post this after I wrote it. Hence, the incorrect date.)

I’ve spent most of my weekend in the shop, but that’s fun for me. The sanding still continues. I managed to get all of the legs screwed and glued in place. I also have the arms screwed and glued, so there’s no going back now.

In the months since I originally cut the parts, the wood has moved. That means that the joints are no longer tight. My dirty little secret? Wood filler. I know this is a cheat and may be unprofessional for fine furniture, but with gaps in the joints, there was really no other choice.

I made my own filler by mixing Titebond II glue and walnut dust from my previous sanding. I use old business cards and a toothpick to mix the filler. I mix it into a thin paste.

One thing I learned was to apply the filler sparingly! Here’s a picture of a joint with filler that is applied much too thick. This resulted in a lot more sanding. Since I hate sanding, this was not a wise move. However, after sanding (for many hours), the joint did come out looking pretty good. The next step is to complete sanding of the other arm and then move onto the headrest.

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding

2011-06-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

The good news is that I’m back working on my chair again. The bad news is that it’s all sanding. I hate sanding.

Chuck Brock starts with 24 grit and moves through an entire “schedule” of grits up to 1000, and then he sands some more with three types of 3M pads. Sorry Chuck, but that is just not going to happen in my shop. I don’t have the time or the patience.

When I cut the parts, I tried to minimize the saw marks as much as possible, and then I sanded as I went. At this point, I used 60 grit paper to remove saw and tool marks. I am also continuing to shape some parts. I then follow up with 120 grit and then 220 grit. The object of each pass is to remove the scratch marks from the previous pass. At the 220 grit level, the wood is already pretty smooth. I plan to go to 400 grit before finishing and then to use a 3M pad between coats. I didn’t include any pictures this time because I figured everyone has seen sawdust before. I made good progress this weekend, but I still need to complete sanding on one back leg and 5 more spindles.

Here are a few things I’ve learned: Use power tools whenever possible. I use my random orbital sander as much as possible, but there are just some areas that must be sanded by hand. After using the ROS, go over the piece by hand and sand with the grain. Don’t be afraid to back up to a lower grit if the scratches are not coming out. Use sanding blocks or dowels whenever possible to save wear and tear on your hands. Use a soft cloth to clean the dust from the wood and use your hands to feel the wood. Your hands can often feel imperfections that cannot be seen. Finally, don’t give up. Sanding is a horrible task, but keep at it until the wood looks and feels perfect. Don’t settle for good enough.

I’m looking forward to the long 4^th of July weekend. I hope to finish sanding the individual pieces, and then assemble the chair again, and complete the joint sanding.

Delay

2011-06-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but life sometimes gets in the way. My chair is still waiting for me to sand it, but a job change and a death in the family has set me back a few weeks. Please stay tuned. More blog posts coming soon.

Spindle Completion

2011-04-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Looking back through my blog, I realized that the level of detail has been decreasing. That was just due to lack of time. So, I’ll try to include a bit more color commentary and pictures so people can see exactly what I’m doing.

Today I finished the last two spindles. I start out by clamping the spindle to my bench. There is rubber shelf liner underneath to ensure it doesn’t get scratched up. I use my angle grinder with a sanding pad to quickly knock down the corners and begin rounding over the backs.

Then I use my orbital sander to clean it up. I go over the entire piece to eliminate the bandsaw marks.

Notice that the seat end is still very wide. Next, I place the spindle beside one that is already finished, and mark it so they are the same length. I cut off the end to ensure that when the spindles are installed in the seat the shoulders will be at the same height.

I drilled holes into a scrap piece of wood and use that for test fitting the spindles. I mark off the 1/2" end and then cut it using my scroll saw to get the width down to the rough size of the hole.

Then using a microplane and files, I shape the ends until they are round and they fit into the holes to the appropriate depth. The backside of the spindle, at the very bottom, is chamfered. This is to allow for the forward movement that is required when the spindles are mounted in the headrest.

I use the Veritas dowel maker to round the ends once I have them shaped close to the right size. If the ends are not very close to the right size, I found that I get quite a bit of tear out. The dowel makers are adjusted to be slightly big, so when the end is completed using the tool, I still need to sand it to fit properly. Using the 1/2” tool on the seat end just doesn’t work well for me. The reason is that the tool starts hitting the shoulders before the entire end is done. It is helpful to get the very end perfectly round though. Starting from there, I can shape the rest by hand.

Here is a picture with spindles 5 and 6 completed (they are still just taped behind the headrest at this point).

Installing the spindles into the headrest is like solving a puzzle. I had to hold the headrest and at the same time try to fit in the 7 spindles. Since my headrest is designed to be lower in the middle, that’s where I started. I installed the middle (#4) spindle and then worked my way out. It turned out that the headrest was too high. This was by design. I left each spindle a little long so that I could fine tune it later. I believe the easiest way to adjust the spindles is to do them one at a time. I would slip one spindle into the headrest, then check to see how high the headrest was with respect to the back legs. Then I would remove the spindle, cut off a small amount from the top, and check it again. It usually only took a couple of tries to get it right. Since I was contorting myself to see where the headrest holes were, I finally drew some witness marks at each hole to make the alignment easier. Once each spindle was individually adjusted, I installed them all into the headrest. With a single spindle in the headrest, it’s fairly easy to pull the headrest forward to align with the back legs, but with all 7 spindles installed, there is a lot of pressure when pulling everything forward. To avoid breaking any more spindles, I filed the front of the seat holes to provide some relief. Brock uses a reamer to do the same thing. Once that was done, the spindles moved more easily and I was able to get the headrest installed (with no cracking noises!).

I now have a complete chair!! It’s just not a rocking chair yet.

The next step will be to sand, sand, and sand some more. I will have to disassemble the chair, but once thoroughly sanded, it will be ready for glue up. After that big step, I will do the final shaping and sanding of every joint.

More Spindle Shaping

2011-04-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been on vacation. I should now have more time to dedicate to my chair. Today I was able to complete two more spindles. I again used the angle grinder with a sanding attachment to round over the back. Then I follow up with an orbital sander. Then I hand shape the ends to round them to fit the seat and the headrest. After I had shaped the seat end of the #2 spindle, I noticed that it leaned back quite a bit. I stupidly pulled the spindle forward and then heard a loud “snap”. Doh! I should have spent some time shaping the bottom so that the spindle would move forward with just slight pressure. Instead, I ended up with a big crack. It appears to be along a knot, so the spindle may not have endured the life of the chair anyway. I was not happy to have broken a part, but fortunately I had a spare.

I moved on and completed spindle #3, and then shaped another one that I labeled as #2. The spindles are not in the headrest at this point. They are simply taped to the back.

Two down, two to go.

Arm and Spindle Shaping

2011-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

I completed shaping of the arms yesterday. I actually shaped the right arm last week. The process turned out to be easier than I thought. I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of Maloof and Brock arm shapes, as well as the arms from other builders. Most appear to be different, so I was left to decide which design I wanted to use. There are so many complex curves that I finally gave up trying to draw the design on the wood. Instead, I just dove in and started shaping until I found a shape that looked and felt good.

Maloof and Brock both started shaping the arms by band sawing much of the material away. This requires the wood to be held at dangerous angles (that both men recommend against). Since I enjoy keeping all my digits, I decided to do my shaping using an angle grinder with 60 grit sandpaper. I could have used my Holey Galahad disk, but I felt that would be too aggressive. The grinder made quiet a mess of my shop, but hey, sawdust is all part of the fun!

The front leg joint was shaped to gently blend into the arm. The microplane works great for this task. I used the grinder starting vertically from the inside edge of the back, and then spiraled to horizontal as I moved the grinder forward. You can see the spiral in these pictures.

The arms are shaped with a hard line all the way around that blend into the hard lines in the back legs. In shaping the back legs, some of the lines remain hard (sharp edged) while some blend into softer curves. Determining where to use the hard and soft lines is a personal choice. Again, I tried to follow the Maloof design where possible. The arm/leg joints are only roughly blended together. The final smoothing will happen after the parts are completely screwed and glued together.

After completing the arms, I moved onto the spindles. These are not difficult to shape, but they are time consuming. As Brock says in his video, you had better enjoy making the spindles because there are seven of them! I was able to complete three yesterday. I used the angle grinder to round the back of the spindles (the wide part). And then I used my random orbital sander to refine the shape. Rounding of the spindles was done using the microplane to start. Then I sanded. I used the Veritas dowel makers at times, but not exclusively. This is a tedious process of sanding, testing the fit, sanding some more, etc., etc. It’s a great feeling when the parts finally snug into place. Note that I maintain the spindle numbering using chalk so I don’t get them mixed up. I did a test fit of the first spindle into the headrest, but this picture was taken with the spindles just behind the headrest. Four more to go…

Even more shaping

2011-03-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

I’m back! Sorry for the delay. I enjoyed my time down under, but I’m also glad to be making progress on my chair again.

Today I completed the shaping of the left back leg (ear) and headrest (crestrail). Having done one already, the second one went much faster. I’m still loving the microplane. It removes wood aggressively, yet it provides a lot of control.

I had a spot on the back of the headrest where I ground too deep with the Holey Galahad. To even things up, I bought a sanding disk for my angle grinder. I used a 100 grit disk and formed the headrest so that both sides tapered evenly. This was actually a good mistake because it thinned and lightened the headrest which I think is a better look. It was a bit top heavy before.

You might notice on the right hand side of the picture that the back leg is cut rather deeply on the inside, just below the headrest. That was a mistake I made when cutting the angles on the bandsaw. I didn’t compensate for the deeper cut on the backside due to the angle. Most of my screw-ups to date have been something I can fix. This one I can’t. I may have to shape the other leg just to make it symmetrical. I don’t like the look, but it will have to do for now. This is another lesson to apply to the next chair.

The next step will be to shape the arms. I think this will be challenging, but fun too.

Slight delay

2011-02-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a month now since I last posted. I didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I have been traveling to the ends of it. Two trips to Australia and New Zealand have been keeping me busy, but I do hope to get back to making sawdust soon. Please standby.

More Shaping

2011-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

My second rocker came out just like the first. No spring back, and they look like mirror-images. I’m setting them both aside for now.

If you didn’t happen to catch it, Fine Woodworking had several segments on the Martha Stewart show. One of the segments included Martha Stewart’s brother who also made a Maloof style rocker using Charles Brock’s plans. Chuck was on the show demonstrating how to shape a spindle. You can see all of the episodes online by following this link.

Today I did some more work on shaping the back legs into the seat. This went much faster thanks to a new tool I bought from Woodcraft. The tool is a Microplane. There are several types, but the one I bought is 8” long, round, and has coarse teeth. It works great for shaping curves. My rasps are too big for the radius I want, and my rat tail files are tapered so I don’t get a consistent profile. The Microplane is straight and the radius seems to be just right. The teeth are very sharp and it cuts moderately fast. It works much like a cheese grater. The nice thing is the finish is smooth (unlike a file or rasp). The Microplane was only about $17 and well worth it because it certainly reduced my work time. The metal is strong, but thin. You have to resist the temptation to put a lot of pressure on it to take more material because the metal can bend. You just have to let the tool do the work and take more strokes.

I added a bit more curve to the left leg joint and then finished the right leg joint. I consider this an intermediate fit since the final smoothing will happen after the pieces get glued into place.

Once the leg joints were done, I moved onto the headrest. This took more time since there are some tricky lines. This project is not a “follow the pattern” project. Much of the work (especially the shaping) has been left as an exercise for the student. It requires more artistry than technical skill. I just keep working on it until I like the way it looks. I was able to finish one side of the headrest today. I hope to do the other side tomorrow. It’s beginning to look like the chair I want. I just need to keep plugging away.

Rockers (Part 2) and Shaping

2011-01-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

I finished sanding the second rocker laminations and got them glued up in the jig. The packing tape and paste wax works great. The glue doesn’t stick at all to the tape, so the clean-up from the first rocker glue up was very quick. I only replaced the tape at the bottom of the jig. I re-waxed the whole thing before putting in the second rocker. The clamps were all tightened into place and I left everything to dry overnight.

The first rocker was run across the jointer to clean it up. Here are some pictures. The rocker has been sitting in my shop for a week now. I checked the rocker against the pattern and there was no spring back at all. I really like the maple accent strip. The lamination lines are invisible and since I kept the strips in order it looks like a single piece of wood. Marking the wood with a “V” before cutting the strips, and then making sure you maintain that “V” when you glue up the rocker ensures this look.

The wood I selected has some heart wood which is lighter than the sap wood. I’ll mount the rocker so the heart wood is on the outside so it matches the seat. I noticed this pattern before I started on the second rocker, so I laid up the strips to mirror this pattern on the opposite side. Be sure to label the front and back of the rocker so you remember to lay it on the jig in the correct orientation. If you fail to pay attention to the grain and the lamination order, your rockers could come out looking random.

As I mentioned before, I used my random orbital sander (ROS) to remove the bandsaw marks on the rocker strips. This is not ideal because the strip thickness is not uniform. A hand plane could be used, but I’m not that skilled with my plane yet. My electric planer needed the blades changed, so I just went to work with the ROS. After the glue up, I cut out another strip to be used for the rocker-to-leg transition. I’ve never changed the blades on my planer, so I figured it was time to learn. I started by RTFM (Reading the freakin’ manual). It turns out it wasn’t hard at all. The blades are double sided, so I just needed to flip them around. I didn’t have much luck with planing thin strips previously, but I thought that a sharp blade might help. It only took two quick passes and the strip was done! There was some waviness that I could feel, but that can be sanded easily. Live and learn. I’ll use this method on my next chair and save some time.

My final task for the day was to start shaping one of the back legs. I made pretty good progress on the leg-to-seat joint. I also made some executive design decisions on where I wanted hard lines and soft lines. The soft lines were marked with chalk. I then used my router to round over some of the soft corners. Here’s a picture showing the differences between the shaped leg and the rough one. I spent about 3 hours on just this today and there is still plenty more to do.

Rockers

2011-01-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

I stopped by Crosscut Woods this week and purchased another stick of 8/4 walnut for the rockers. Today I cut out all of the strips. Mr. Brock suggests six 3/16”+ strips or eight 1/8”+ strips. I opted for the 1/8” strips because Brock says this will cause less springback. The design calls for 50” strips, but I want a bit more material on the front of my rockers so I cut mine to 52”.

The strips were cut using the bandsaw instead of my TSFH (table saw from hell). This is safer and more controllable for thin strips. I started by squaring the stock on the jointer and planer. The stock thickness is 1-1/2”. (Note to self: time to change blades on the planer.) I cut the strips 1/32” thicker so I had room to sand off the saw marks. The board edge was jointed after each cut to ensure a smooth side to run against the fence. This was a laborious process with my small shop because I had to swap the shop vac and power between bandsaw and jointer for each piece! Whew.

I laid out the pieces on the floor and used my random orbital sander to clean them up. Laying the strips side-by-side keeps the thickness fairly uniform. I found this sanding to be hard even with 60 grit sandpaper. With just 1/32” added to each piece (maybe a bit more), this results in a total rocker height of 1-1/4”+, but the goal is 1”. For some reason, getting that small amount of wood sanded off was really difficult. Eventually, I grew tired of sanding and decided to just use 7 strips. This brought the total height to 1”+. As the Marines say, “Improvise, adapt, and overcome.” Oh, by the way, I cut one strip of maple as an accent to the walnut.

With the sanding completed for the first rocker, I prepared for the glue up. I chose to use Titebond III glue due to its longer open time (drying time). I covered the surfaces of the jig with clear packing tape, and then applied paste wax to ensure the rocker did not stick to the jig. The glue up process needs to happen quickly, so I preset the clamps close to the required opening. This reduced the time needed to tighten each clamp. I used old business cards to spread the glue since I seem to have a never ending supply of them. I paid attention to covering the entire surface of each piece. Once the pieces were all glued, I started clamping the stack in the center. The pieces are much more slippery then when doing the dry fit, so be careful that some pieces don’t slide too far out of alignment. Keep a soft hammer close to adjust the stack as necessary. The c-clamps were applied from the center outward. I clamped the reverse curve side first since it is the most complex. Once all clamps were in place, I went back and re-tightened each one for maximum pressure. This is a messy process. Plan to have glue all over your hands and the jig. I learned that c-clamps can’t be placed too close to each other or the handles will interfere with each other. Also, do the glue up in a place where you can leave the jig overnight. Once the clamps are in place, the entire assembly is very heavy. I can’t wait to see how the rocker turns out! If I get time this week, I’ll sand and glue up the second rocker.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

2011-01-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

My day job is putting a crimp into my woodworking productivity. Last weekend I spent shaping the front legs into the seat. I used the bandsaw to round off the joint first. Then I refined it with a rasp. The smooth blend of the joint into the seat was made with a rotary rasp in my dremel tool, followed by a 1/2" sanding wheel in the dremel, and finally by some hand sanding using a dowel wrapped in 100 grit sandpaper. This is a painstaking process because I was afraid of taking off too much material. Overall, I spent about 3 hours per leg. Here are some pictures of the result. Obviously there is still more work to do.

This weekend I started shaping the headrest. I tilted the bandsaw table and cut the top and bottom of the headrest to form a rough curve. A rasp and file were used to continue the shaping. I used the random orbital sander to clean it up. Notice that the sides of the headrest that meet the back legs were not shaped. That will be done once the pieces are screwed together to make sure the joints blend together correctly.

The next parts I attacked were the spindles. I’m choosing not to crown the front of the spindles. I think that the additional surface area will add more support. Crowning the back of the spindles was no problem. Again, I used just a rasp and file, followed by sanding.

My 1/2" and 3/8” Veritas dowel makers (a.k.a. pencil sharpeners) arrived this week. I was anxious to try them. I started with the spare spindle that I nearly cut in half so that I could practice. The corners at each end were rounded using a rasp, and then I twisted on the dowel tool. My first attempt ended in a huge chip out. I eased up on my pressure to take just light cuts and got better results. I had to be very careful to avoid the tool really digging into the wood and tearing out the corners. I found that a combination of filing the piece close to the correct size and then using the dowel tool worked best. On the 1/2" end, I noticed that the dowel created was not aligned with the curve of the spindle. The tool also started hitting the bottom edge of the wider spindle shoulder preventing me from cutting the full length of the dowel. After spending the money for these tools, I’m frustrated with the poor results. I think I can do better shaping the dowel by hand. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, or I just need more practice…I don’t know. If anybody out there has suggestions, please leave me a comment.

There may be a problem with the spindles. I just blindly followed the pattern when cutting out the parts. Now, some of the spindle ends may be too thin. Especially on the 1/2" end. If I cut off some of the end, I might be able to recover and get a 1/2" dowel that completely fills the hole in the seat. This would have the effect of lowering the wider portion of the spindle and I’m concerned about how that will look. I will just have to try it and see. I can’t complete the spindles until I have the rest of the chair assembled with the headrest in place, so I’ll just think about it some more.

Shaping the seat

2011-01-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Over the past few days, I’ve only been doing some minor work on my chair. I used the Miller 1X drill bit to drill all of the seat, arm, and headrest holes. It’s nice being able to screw the chair together without requiring clamps. I used my router with the 3/4" roundover bit to shape the bottom of the seat, but was careful to stay away from the legs. Those transitions will be shaped by hand. I did some work on the left front leg joint, but there is much more to do.

I also made some mods to my rocker lamination jig. After reading the Sawmill Creek forum, and looking at pictures of others jigs, the consensus seems to be clamping should be perpendicular to the curves. I re-cut my cauls so they are parallel with the curves. Then I drilled some holes to accommodate the c-clamps. I started with a 1-3/8” forstner bit and chiseled one side flat to give the clamp more surface area. The body of the clamp sticks out a bit, so I had to drill a second hole using a 3/4" forstner bit to prevent it from hitting the jig. Here’s a picture of what it looks like now.

With the legs screwed into place, I marked the curve on the back of the seat using the headrest pattern. I drew the curves on the sides of the seat freehand. Then, I used the band saw to cut out those curves. Small curves were cut on the seat just forward of the front legs because I like that look. The spindle holes were already marked, so I drilled those using a 1/2" bit to 1-1/4” depth.

Today it was a cold, but sunny day here in Seattle, so once again I moved my seat outside to do more shaping using the Holey Galahad wheel in the angle grinder. I’m still very impressed with this tool. It’s aggressive, but also easy to control. With a light touch, you can take off a thin layer exactly where you want it. The seat had been roughed out before, but I wanted to make it deeper. I also needed to shape the front of the seat. It took very little time to get it where I wanted it. I ground it down close, and then used rasps to get the shape detailed. I sanded the whole thing using 60 grit disks in my random orbital sander. I’m very happy with the shape now and the grain pattern.

There is just no short-cut for the shaping by rasp or file (I wish there was). It goes pretty fast, but it takes some muscle. If you are planning to make a chair like this, be prepared to spend a significant amount of time and effort in hand shaping and hand sanding. I have only one day of vacation left before returning to my day job. My goal is to get the front legs smoothed into the seat tomorrow.

Spindles

2010-12-28T18:38:00.000-08:00

I thought that I had used up all my mistakes earlier. Today I was proved wrong.

I decided to go with 1-3/8” spindles, but my 8/4 stock measured in at about 1-7/8”. I could have simply planed it down to the right thickness, but that seemed like a huge waste of some very expensive wood, so I figured I could resaw it to 1-1/2” than plane from there. This would leave me with a thin slice of “waste” that I can recycle into other projects. To start, I had to change the blade on my band saw back to the 3/4" for the resaw. I did this fairly quickly, but something was just not right. The blade tended to “flutter”. I tweaked the tension, the guides, and the tracking, but no joy. I just couldn’t get it to run smoothly. Hey, it was going around, so I went ahead and started cutting. As I got to the last two feet of the 6’ board, I noticed some smoke, but assumed the blade was just cooking a bit because the wood had some internal stress and was squeezing against it. Then the blade took a hard right from the cutting line. I tried to get back on line, but it was a struggle. When I finally made it completely through the board, I saw that although the blade only moved a little at the top, it moved significantly on the bottom. In fact enough to go beyond the 1-3/8” I was shooting for. Arrrgh! That end of the board was wasted, so I would have to use another 8/4 board (my last) to make the rest of the spindles. I took a look around the band saw and found the culprit. I managed to burn out the bottom rear guide bearing. The good news is that this happened before and I bought a spare bearing.

After replacing the bearing, and switching back to my new 3/8” blade, I marked out the pattern and cut all of the spindle side profiles. Wow, this is a lot of cutting! Next, I traced out the front profile on the first spindle. Following Brock’s recommendation, I also marked the center of the piece. I cut the right side with no problem, but when I went to cut the left side, I inadvertently started cutting the centerline. Doh! Good thing I cut two extra spindles. I’ll use this one as a practice piece to test the shaping and the fit to the chair. Lee Valley shipped the dowel cutters (a.k.a. pencil sharpeners) today.

Lesson Learned: If you are going to draw lines on the stock that will NOT be cut, use a different colored pencil.

I finished cutting out the rest of the spindles and they came out pretty good. The radii on the bottom of the spindles were too tight to cut on the band saw, so I cut those using my scroll saw. Notice that I renumbered the #9 spindle to be #1B. :)

I was limited in my choices as far as grain selection. There may be some “short grain” issues that would weaken the spindles, but I guess I’ll find that out once they are in the chair. I think the current batch matches well. If I have to use #8, there will be some lighter heartwood showing. One of the spindles had a knot in it and I was worried about that, but I cut it out anyway. It turns out that the knot is now just grazing the corner of the upper spindle and that part will be shaped away.

I’ll have to get more 8/4 walnut before I can make the rockers. While I’m waiting on that, I think I’ll move on to some shaping and get the legs, arms, and headrest screwed into place. I’m finding that at least 50% of my time goes into tool setup, planning, watching the DVD, or just staring at Maloof chair pictures and trying to figure out the lines. I’m frustrated with my mistakes again, but I have made progress. As long as things are moving forward, I know I’ll reach the end eventually.

Arms

2010-12-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful. I’m a morning person, so while the rest of the family was sleeping in, I was busy reviewing the Brock DVD and book, or sharpening tools. I don’t really like to sharpen things, but I know it’s necessary. So, I try to dedicate a day every quarter to just sharpen every tool I have: knives, planes, chisels, turning tools, etc.

Santa was good to me, so I went shopping at Woodcraft today and picked up a few more tools. I picked up the Miller dowel 1X drill bit, the “Dowel-it” jig, and some Titebond III long open time glue for the rockers. I also stopped by Harbor Freight to pick up ten 6” C-clamps (on sale!), and Home Depot (a.k.a. BORG…Big Orange Retail Giant) for some Spax #10x3” screws.

In my “free time”, I came across the Sawmill Creek woodworking forum. There is a great discussion thread there on Maloof rockers with 5 or 6 people who are also currently building chairs. It was great to see that other people are experiencing some of the same issues I’m having. I also learned a lot by reading the problems and solutions of others. That’s what I hope this blog will do for the readers.

I was struggling with my first arm. The plans call for 6 degree cuts on the bottom/front of the stock where it attaches to the front leg, and the back where the arm attaches to the back leg. I quickly realized that because of my earlier mistake, the arm transition on the back legs were now 1” higher than planned, so the 6 degree elevation was not working. After some trial and error, I found that 8 degrees seemed to work. Once things were aligned, I traced the spot where the front leg contacts the arm stock. I recommend using stock that is slightly longer than required (~20”). This will give you more material to play when working on the fit.

The plans call for a 1/2" dowel center to be placed in the top of the arm, and then the arm stock is pounded down to mark the spot to drill for the dowel. I don’t have a dowel center, so I simply used my compass to find the center of the circle I had drawn. Then I used my new dowel jig and a 1/2" brad point bit to make a 1-1/4” deep hole.

Next, I traced the top and side arm templates to the stock. You have to be careful of the orientation of the top template to ensure you cut a right and a left arm. I marked the template on the bottom of the stock, that way I can ensure that the inside edge is 1/2" from the leg circle I traced. In the Brock DVD, he cuts one side of the arm, and then the other by carefully balancing the arm. This seems difficult to me. I use the technique I learned from years of compound cutting on the scroll saw. I start by cutting the top and bottom areas off, and then I use clear packing tape to reassemble the parts. This method provides a flat surface for cutting the other face. Here are some pictures to show you what I’m talking about.

I created some dowels for the front leg joint and mounted the arms to the chair. For some reason the arms fit even better than they did before I cut them to shape! I should mention that I created a simple jig to hold the back of the arm in place. This was a big help when trying to get the arm-to-back leg cuts to match. Now the chair is really starting to look like a chair. My goal this week is to complete the rough cut of all the parts. Later, I can take my time to shape everything.

I was very interested in the Miller dowel bit and Spax screw combination. I did a test using a scrap piece of wood and it worked well. However, I wanted to see exactly how it worked. So, I cut through the wood to take a look inside. This picture shows that the shank of the screw is not touching the wood, but the threads on the end are. This is due to the stepped shape of the bit. When screwing together two pieces of wood, this will result in the inside piece being pulled back into the outer piece for a very strong joint. The Miller bit also does the countersinking to prepare for the plugs.

Headrest (Part 2)

2010-12-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today was all about the headrest. There were no patterns provided for the headrest shape. This allows me to be creative, but it also means I need to decide on a design and create my own pattern. The Brock chair uses a nice looking French curve, but I decided to keep it simple with a shallow curve on the top, and a more pronounced curve on the bottom that flows into the legs. This closely matches the Maloof chair. Using a thin strip of maple, I created an adjustable curve to trace the arc. Because the headrest is now curved, I drew the curve on some poster board so it can be bent on the wood. The curves into the legs were just drawn free hand. I cut out one side, and then folded it over to trace and cut the other side. This ensures that the curve is symmetrical. I suggest that you first cut the curves out on some plywood. That way if the poster board pattern gets worn out or torn, you can quickly create another one.

Here is a picture of the curves traced onto the headrest. I mounted it onto the chair so the curves could be drawn on the legs too. The Brock video shows him cutting the curved headrest with no support. I saved the back of the stock to use as a “cradle” to hold the headrest stable and make the cuts straight.

It really helps to cut just the BOTTOM curves first. Then the holes for the spindles can be drill easier because the top is still flat. The holes are 3/8” x 1-1/4” deep, and 2-7/8" apart. They are set back 7/8" from the front. After drilling, the top curve can be cut. Here’s a picture of the finished product.